Many East Coast Gaffers will be familiar with the Sailing Barge ‘Victor’, based in Ipswich where she was built at Dock End Yard in 1895. She is currently at serious risk of being decommissioned and leaving Ipswich forever. Can you help?
The opportunity to save ‘Victor’ is real, but so is the risk of losing her. Every donation, large or small, brings us one step closer to keeping ‘Victor’ where she belongs. To find out more about the Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust and to make a donation, please visit: ourvictor.org
Following the retirement of her long-serving skipper, no buyer has yet come forward to secure Victor’s future. Unless urgent action is taken, she will be decommissioned and will leave her Ipswich home (where she was built in 1895, and traded for many years under sail, then worked again for the last 20 years as a passenger vessel) permanently. Her future may be that of a houseboat, or being beached in the saltings like many previous barges. Without our urgent intervention her commercial days are over.
We believe that would be a tremendous loss for Ipswich, for our maritime heritage, and for future generations who deserve the opportunity to experience this remarkable vessel. That is why a new independent charity, The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust, has been established. The Trust has a clear and ambitious goal: to raise £100,000 by Christmas 2026 to purchase ‘Victor’ and secure her future in Ipswich.
If successful, ‘Victor’ will continue to operate her popular passenger trips on the River Orwell, allowing residents and visitors alike to enjoy this unique historic vessel. But the vision goes much further than that. As a charity-owned heritage asset, ‘Victor’ will be used to deliver educational programmes, volunteering opportunities, wellbeing activities, skills training and community projects that connect people with Ipswich’s rich maritime history.
The opportunity to save ‘Victor’ is real, but so is the risk of losing her. Every donation, large or small, brings us one step closer to keeping Victor where she belongs. To find out more about the Trust and to make a donation, please visit: ourvictor.org
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